Moberly Schools do well, still room for growth

The Moberly School Board conducted their monthly meeting last night (Sept. 10).

The main focus of the open meeting were the results from the MSIP 5 (Missouri School Improvement Program) and APR (Annual Performance Review).

The MSIP 5 is Missouri’s school accountability system allowing for review and accreditation of public schools. MSIP started in 1990, and is currently entering its fifth edition this year. The MSIP 5 lays out guidelines and expectations for districts. The program looks for growth in a variety of areas, including academic achievement, college and career ready, attendance, graduation rate, and subgroup achievement.

The MSIP program allows 140 points to be earned throughout the different categories.

Moberly Schools earned 128 points, or 91.4%. MSIP 5’s goal is to have Missouri schools be a part of the top 10 schools in the nation by 2020.

Subgroups contain students that belong in at least one of the following criteria: African-Americans, Hispanics, children with disabilities, English language learners, and those who qualify for reduced-price meals. Students that traditionally fall into the subgroup category have been at risk for failure in school. Moberly Schools scored 14 of out 14 points for the Subgroup standard.

The areas that Moberly could see improvement are attendance, and graduation rate. Both of those areas earned just 75 percent of the possible points available.

While student achievement looked strong (since Moberly earned all 56 points available on the MSIP 5 in that area), other data shows that Moberly student performance on assessments is below state and even national levels. The District is currently in the process of reviewing data to “target weaknesses of all students and focus instructional resources and strategies to improve student performance.”

Overall, the District is pleased with the results of the MSIP 5, they said Tuesday.